June 26, 2012

Oh, how painful it was for Adam Schabow when — twice! — Tom Barrett's people stuck their sign in his yard! He hates Scott Walker, but the presumption and the intrusion was just very horrible for him.

"I wanted a 'Recall Walker' sign. 'Cause mine got stolen a couple of weeks earlier. The whole thing was very convenient for me. But they didn't know that. So they shouldn't've been messin' around on my lawn."

Even liberals say get off my lawn.

IN THE COMMENTS: Pogo wrote:

His lawn?"His" lawn??

There is nobody in this country who got a lawn on his own — nobody.
You grew some grass out there? Good for you.

But I want to be clear. You moved your grass seed on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired lawn care workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your house because of police-forces and fire-forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn’t have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything on your lawn — and hire someone to protect against this — because of the work the rest of us did.

I drive past Barrett's house on the way in to work. He lives on a nice boulevard and the street was festooned with Recall Walker and Tom Barrett for Governor signs in the lead-up to the recall election. I have enjoyed observing the slow disappearance of the signs in the weeks that followed the election -- an entire street working through the stages of grief. There is one final hold out (not Barrett's house) who has not entered the acceptance stage yet.

For those who have a hard time understanding the Citizens United ruling treating corporations as people, I suggest imagining your lawn is like a corporation. It's not you, but it is yours to use in your free speech expression. To have a law saying you cannot put a sign in your lawn is like preventing corporations from expressing speech. The corporation is like the front lawn of the stockholders and employees. some lawns are bigger than others, and union people have lawns too.

There is nobody in this country who got a lawn on his own — nobody.You grew some grass out there? Good for you.

But I want to be clear. You moved your grass seed on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired lawn care workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your house because of police-forces and fire-forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn’t have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything on your lawn — and hire someone to protect against this — because of the work the rest of us did.

Sure, complaining about the sign takes more energy than removing it. But it also makes him, in many people's minds, a Scott Walker supporter. Forcing him to explain that, no, he'll be voting for Barret. To which many will reply, "then what's the problem?"

Placing that sign without his permission has taken away his right to stand on the sidelines, his right to keep his opinions to himself.

It was good to see Adam slip out of his rock god persona and wear a collar and tie. He looked like an ordinary, concerned citizen in such garb. This made his words all the more forceful and compelling. Lawn abuse is one of those problems that no one wants to talk about, but silence is consent. Lawn abuse will not away if we ignore it. Thank God for brave citizens like Adam.....I also admire the semiotics of his drinking Arizona Ice Tea. We are all Trayvon Martin.

MadisonMan said...It's not that hard to pull up a sign and toss it. But yes, people shouldn't be putting them there if you don't ask them to. But you shouldn't complain about it if they do. Just get rid of it.

Not all the petty complaints of life are blogworthy.

So when are the violation of your property rights complaint-worthy?Should all these small injustices be ignored?

I am not understanding what the problem is here. I bashed Tom Barrett and United Wisconsin (my own party) for putting signs on my lawn (as well as all over my neighborhood) without permission from any of us…TWICE! It’s not just about that as well. Since I live on Sherman Park, which is basically 98% African American, I found the whole thing sleazy. So yeah, I do think it’s worth blogging about.

The video also discusses political signs from both parties getting their signs stolen or vandalized. My parents, who are Walker supporters, had their sign stolen. I felt bad for them. I don’t understand exactly what any of your problems are with the video (besides my snarky comment about Scott Walker). Perhaps it seems like this should be an issue that everyone agrees on, so I shouldn’t have even blogged on it.

Tough. It is a problem when so many people I know, from both sides of the aisle, are having their political yard signs stolen. It’s something that happened all across Wisconsin leading up to the Recall election. So yes, with the high numbers of political signs that have been stolen, there is a real possibility that someone reading this very website has done it. With that being said, it’s a very real possibility someone reading Dane101.com has done it on the other side of the aisle. Who knows? But they are out there somewhere.

When it get’s closer to the 2012 Presidential election, I plan to catch them red handed by digging a tiger trap in my front lawn.

I had a homemade wooden recall sign that someone kept pushing over. I kept putting it back up. Then it started to get bashed with what I assumed was a baseball bat, and I was just about to put out a motion sensor camera to catch the perp. "Smile!". Then whoever it was stopped.

It is a problem when so many people I know, from both sides of the aisle, are having their political yard signs stolen.

How big of a problem is that, really? Oh noes, somebody stole my sign! Annoying, but there are worse things in the world. (like vandalism, based on what sign you have in your yard)

Also, I didn't think the comments in here were particularly negative towards you, so I'm not sure why you are upset. In fact, many people agreed with your general thesis (ie, signs should not end up in your hard unless you put them there)

Probably taking notes from their Hero on how to evade the law. Agreed.

On that note, this is pretty funny Charlie Sykes, who has been griping for months about leaks from the DA's office, was getting leaks the whole time from Tim Russell's lawyers. Sykes lie? Quelle surprise! They took 6 computers and 14,000 documents from a raid of Russell's house. Wowee. And I wonder how the DA's office got their hands on emails meant for Walker? Ruh roh!

garage mahal said...I had a homemade wooden recall sign that someone kept pushing over. I kept putting it back up. Then it started to get bashed with what I assumed was a baseball bat, and I was just about to put out a motion sensor camera to catch the perp. "Smile!". Then whoever it was stopped.

Since you readily admit that lying is permissible behavior, I'm calling this story bullshit.

Anyway, I'm a passionate fella and sometimes comments do not come across with the light-heartedness it's meant to.

Whoa, whoa, WHOA there fella! I think you left out the part about living in basically a 98% African-American neighborhood in that sentence. I mean, I knew what you meant, because it was implied, but without that phrase the sentence makes NO. SENSE. Please be more clear next time.

One needs to stop and ponder how disasterous Obama's Presidency has been for Liberals in Wisconsin.

When Obama was elected. THere was this great promise of hope and change. Democrats controlled the Senate, Governor, and assembly for the first time in 15 years. The Unions were strong, everything was great. Light Rail was on its way.

But now three years later, everything has been lost. The government unions are destroyed. Democrats are out of power, and it was all caused by Obama.

I don't say he's a great man. Adam Schabow never made a lot of money. His name was never in the paper. He's not the finest character that ever lived. But he's a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him.

So attention must be paid. His lawn just can't be used to put signs in without asking. Attention, attention must finally be paid to such a person!!

"The video also discusses political signs from both parties getting their signs stolen or vandalized. My parents, who are Walker supporters, had their sign stolen."

Honestly, I think it's usually kids.

Along the road here someone put up a sign saying "stop stealing my signs". The spot is on a hill that makes someone pulling over to do it implausible, and there isn't much foot traffic (though there is some).

I wanted to ask if she'd looked down the mountain on the other side of the road. We have wind that rips off screen doors, after all.

But what do I know. I tend to assume the best of people. One of my neighbors finds it necessary to put his Republican signs up on a better-than 4x6 plywood structure on 4x4 posts. Anyone vandalizing it would need a chain saw.

Was a funny line, but you kind of killed it by going back to it. No successful comedian ever says "But what about my previous joke, wasn't that funny?"

There's definitely something that's very invasive about this that goes beyond putting stuff on your lawn. It's like an appropriation of your right to determine and express your own political beliefs. I could make an analogy to liberal race politics, but yeah...

Adam should not have signs on his property unless he wants to have signs on his property.

There were a couple of neighbors here who were supporting opposing candidates for County Supervisor. They also have an ongoing dispute over whether on of them has access by a driveway and road that divides the properties.

Every other day the signs for candidate X would appear and the signs for candidate Y would be torn down. Next day the reverse. The signs kept getting more and MORE and BIGGER. It was great entertainment for those of us driving past to watch the dueling signs. Fortunately when one candidate won, all the signs disappeared and there was no fisticuffs or gunshots exchanged.

Wow. A lot of nice, thoughtful responses from everyone across the board. Anyway, you ask for answers and now that I’m at home and not posting at work, I can answer this a bit more in depth.

The reason why I brought up the African American neighborhood I live in is because I question, let me repeat question, if the Barrett campaign and United Wisconsin (or whoever did it…TWICE!) would have put signs on our lawns without permission if it was a rich white suburban neighborhood. I'm not saying it's a for sure, but I have most definitely seen my share of different and unfair treatment in this neighborhood. That is my only point. I just posted this to a fellow liberal friend and he thought it was hard to believe…and perhaps it is. All I know is that it made both Martha and myself feel VERY, VERY uneasy, especially the second time when they ignored my tenant who specifically told him he needed our permission. Instead, the person just stuck it on our lawn anyway and moved to the next house.

Yeah, I think Shanna is correct. I would have no problem if they would have just left the signs on the steps for us to put them up. I think most of us would have anyways.

As for Lew, thanks for posting on my blog. You are welcome there anytime.

As for Chip S, you’re insulting, you’re rude and I kind of like your crotchetyness. Well done.

As for Sloanasaurus, I can tell you why I, a liberal, plan to vote for Obama. It’s because I can’t vote for Romney. It’s the same reason I voted for Barrett instead of Walker. It’s my inner moral compass that would not allow me to. However, I am VERY mixed on Obama….sometime down the road, I plan to post something on this very subject.

Leslyn, oh Leslyn…Trust me, I know I’m being mocked.

I plan to be around and keep on commenting just as long as I’m not blocked. The only way to understand the other side of the argument is through dialogue and conversation. That’s what I’m hoping for while I’m hanging around here. You are going to get SO annoyed by me…even more so that is.

All I know is that it made both Martha and myself feel VERY, VERY uneasy, especially the second time when they ignored my tenant who specifically told him he needed our permission.

What are you feeling so uneasy about? Aren't you a lefty? What are you so perturbed about here? This is exactly the philosophy on the left: use another man's property for your own ends, whether or not you have his permission, even when permission is expressly denied.

It's for the children, though... and the poor, you ungrateful son of a bitch!! The signs were put up to support a candidate who fights for these people!! Why do you hate children and poor people?